All-Out Battle!
Provisions Akane's eyes snapped open. She removed herself from the arms of the sleeping Kaiya and Yuri and walked outside of their shelter. She breathed in the fresh air. One of their precious 5 days had been lost. Now they only had 4 days to get their Earth Scroll. Even through the density of the trees, the Forest of Death looked rather spectacular. It was as if they were on a simple nature hike; the illumination of the sunlight gave the forest canopy a bright and majestic appearance. The birds' silhouettes wa continuously seen flying overhead, their nature songs chorusing through the gentle winds. Even in enemy territory... it was a good-looking day to be outside. Akane yawned. Guess it was time to wake up the sleeping beauties so they could get moving. She walked back into the shelter and stooped down, kissing them both on the cheeks and whispering. "Wake up." "Nnn...?" Kaiya was the first one to wake up from her slumber, eyes slowly opening to the darkness of her cave. Slowly, she propped herself up on her elbows and tilted her neck around in order to get the stiffness from the muscle. "Morning already...?" She slurred. "And I was having a good sleep..." She slowly pulled herself up to her feet, working out her limbs as she did so. "Eh, it's a nice day outside. Why sleep through it?" Akane asked as Yuri arose, rubbing her eyes. "Nnn..." Though she could see the bright light from outside, Kaiya remained focused on attempting to shake herself awake. It was such a pain to wake up - especially in cases where there was a time limit. She was starting to regret suggesting the method of constant moving, if these were the results. Then again, it still saved them time... "What's wrong Kaiya?" Akane asked. "Not a morning person?" "Yeah... sorry, Akane." The short-haired girl apologized, raising a hand to the back of her head in slight embarrassment. "I've never been used to waking up so early before, so I'm a little tired still." "Just like Yuri." Akane laughed. She breathed deeply for a moment. "I can wake ya up." In a suprise move, she leaned in and kissed Kaiya full on the mouth. The sweet sensation of her lips once more. It caused Kaiya's eyes to widen slightly, but she accepted the gentle offer welcomingly. She allowed Akane's lips to grace her own, closing her eyes for the period that they were connected. Akane pulled back, grinning. "You awake now?" "I'd say so." Kaiya replied, smiling gently. "Thank you, Akane." "Awright!" Akane grinned. "By the way Yuri how do you feel?" "I've felt worse." Yuri replied, standing up. "So what do we do know?" Akane asked. "I'd say we eat first." Yuri replied. "No use hunting for scrolls if we don't have the energy to nab them." Kaiya nodded in agreement. "But, what shall we eat? I don't really feel like eating fish again..." She pondered. "We could eat each other." Akane suggested innocently. Yuri blushed furiously. "Hey, none o' that!" Kaiya scolded laughingly. "Especially not in this morning..." Folding her arms across her chest, she looked at her two teammates. "Then again, I suppose that fishing could be the only option..." "Unless you want to eat fruits, berries, and rabbit stew." Yuri suggested, pulling out a book entitled Delicacies of the Woods. "...you didn't say anything about that before..." "You never asked." Yuri replied, smiling. "So take your pick. Fish, or stew." Kaiya gave a light shrug. "All right, then. Stew." She decided, eager to escape the taste of fish while the chance was good. Yuri stowed the book back inside her hip pouch. "Alright, guess this is where your hunting knife comes in handy Kaiya." She said as the exited the shelter. "I'm getting a scent of rabbit not too far from here." "Right..." Kaiya confirmed quietly. They moved quietly, leaning into the grass so as to avoid detection, and spotted two rabbits near a tree, just brazenly standing there. The short-haired girl already had her hunting knife out, held in a twisted back-hand position. "All right... we're in position. How're we gonna do this?" She questioned quietly, her gaze on nothing but the two rabbits. "I've never hunted before, so I wouldn't know." Yuri replied. "You have the knife, you do the killin'." The rabbits looked up, not even knowing three people wanted to eat them. It was just like her teammates to leave her to do the work. Thankfully, she knew what she was doing. Her knife was clutched tightly, and she peered down her targets with intense eyes. For a moment, she didn't move from her spot as she observed the two animals. Then, she struck. With a lunge that only a tiger could perform, she was upon the beasts before their instinctive nature could kick in. With her knife, she swung down and plunged it right into the back of one rabbit's head for an instant kill. Then, in twisting her body, she swung her leg to the ground and upon the neck of the other rabbit. The force snapped the bone in two. Too easy. Akane winced. "Poor Bunnies." Yanking the knife out, Kaiya stood up and picked up her two kills by the scruff of their necks, smiling innocently. "I've got 'em!" She confirmed. "Let's eat!" Yuri laughed. "Not yet. We have to collect vegetables to make a decent stew." "Oh, right..." The smile vanished into a more curious look. "What shall I do with these, then?" "Carry 'em." Akane said. "I've got the vegetable and fruit mess covered." She said stooping down to pick up a crop. "No you don't." Yuri replied. "That's a Pieris plant it's poisonous." Akane looked panicked. "I guess we can thank Yuri for her plant knowledge, eh?" Kaiya teased, chuckling at the fact that Akane could've nearly killed herself out of such a mistake. Yuri smiled, and after kissing Akane on the cheek to wipe the panicked look off her face, started foraging for different plants. It took only a few minutes and she came back with Ninjin (carrots), Jaigaim (potato) and Horenso (spinach). "I think we've got a good haul." She said smiling. "Now let's get home and stew these so we can get moving." "Right-O!" They arrived back at their shelter and set up a small collapsible pot Yuri conveniently carried with her, After skinning the rabbit, cutting the vegetables and adding water to the pot, they added the ingredients. Akane got a fire starting under the pot and the time it took to cook gave them time to discuss their plan of action. Kaiya sat cross-legged on the ground, one eye closed, and one eye open. "We can move openly at night, but in the day time we have to stay quiet and keep a low profile. There's gonna be many that're gonna be awake at this time, as well." "So you wanna attack others while their asleep?" Akane asked, breathing in the scent of stew. "Sounds kinda mean." "No one said this was supposed to be fair." Kaiya countered sagely. "Fine.." Akane grumbled. "Yuri?" Kaiya turned her gaze towards her other companion. "What do you think?" "So long as we make it out of here intact, I don't care what approach we take." Yuri replied, stirring the stew. Kaiya sighed heavily, but said nothing in response. They sat in silence for awhile, and the stew was ready. Due to lack of bowls, They ate with spoons out of the pot. "So how will we tell who has an Earth Scroll or not?" Akane asked. "I'm not sure. The scrolls that they're carrying'll probably be hidden, so we won't have any idea of what ninja we face has the scroll we want." As she finished the statement, Kaiya frowned. "There's got to be some sort of option that'll let us know right away!" "Well," Yuri mumbled, swallowing stew. "We could attack one of their members and pose as them to find out." "We don't want to have to do something repetitive and tedious in order to find it." Kaiya reminded. "I don't here any ideas from you Kai." Yuri pointed out. "I'm thinking, I'm thinking!" "Well I am out of ideas." Yuri said. "Great..." The statement fell upon a deflated Kaiya, her optimistic mood dissipating. "Just great..." "Why can't we just launch a full on assault?" Akane asked, chewing bits of rabbit. "Because, something like that will expose us to other ninja too quickly. And I haven't exactly forgotten the fact that we were all almost killed by that one..." Yuri shuddered as she remembered the platinum haired boy. "Yea, Akane I think she's right." Akane sighed. "At this rate, the only way we are going to get a Earth Scroll is if Seken gives us his." "Which isn't going to happen." Kaiya finished in disappointment, setting her spoon down and flopping on her back. "This is soooo frustrating...." Yuri swallowed more stew and got up. "Kai, Akane, I'm going to take a quick surveillance of the forest, to find where the weakest teams are." "Yeah..." Kaiya acknowledged her with a wave. "We'll be here, planning something." Yuri smiled and took off out of the shelter. Surveillance Yuri leaped from tree to tree, looking around the area. It seemed to be cleared out, though she spotted blood here and there. There were no bodies, either. Obviously, the battle had started long before she had come, and the corpses had been cleared in order to remove heavy evidence, as well as hints of their hiding spots. It was no doubt - the competition was very, very smart. Yuri smelled the air. No trace of the platinum haired boys scent or Seken's. Had they made it to the tower? However, there was a different scent picked up. The scent of an enemy. There were three figures hiding in the darkness of the trees' shade, each one staring down what was to be a potential target. They were all dressed in rather casual attire, but retained a shinobi-like appearance, especially with the masks that covered the lower part of their face. On their headbands was the Iwagakure symbol, telling their affiliation right away. And there was another note. They had the Earth scroll. Yuri's nose twitched. She could choose to fight them now, but she was outnumbered. It'd be pointless. That was when they drew out their kunai, each one with an explosive tag on it. Their eyes sighted for the target, they readied themselves to attack, bodies tensing, and their eyes narrowing in concentration. Then, they threw. The moving bombs descended towards Yuri... Yuri was alerted to the smell of metal and petals formed around her absorbing that impact of the explosion. She turned around sighing. Seemed she'd have to fight whether wanted to or not. Instantly, two nin were upon her, flanking her side. One had a fist thrown in a punch, while the other had a leg raised in a kick. Both were aimed towards the weakest points of her petal defense, in a tactical blitzkrieg maneuver. The petals spread out and wrapped around the oncoming limbs. The petals moved like arms and threw the attacking ninja away from Yuri and from each other. She panted. These people were attacking her even though she didn't have a scroll. Maybe they liked killing. From above, another pair of kunai was sent at her exposed flank. A sense of sharp pain went from her side throughout her body, but the cut was not deep. She reached into her hip pouch and drew out a small sphere. She threw is down onto the ground and a blast of smoke issued out from it, concealing Yuri from view. That's when their attack stopped, the nin taken by surprise as they fell back to a safe distance. The sound of whizzing was heard as multiple weapons such as kunai, shuriken and Fuma Shuriken shot out of the smokescreen in all directions. Now the tables had turned. Stunned and taken off-guard, the ninja could only attempt to evade in a rather clumsy manner as they were assaulted. However, it was all for naught - the two that had dared to come up close were shredded, falling to the ground in their own blood. Only one remained - the one who held the scroll. "Give me the scroll." Yuri said, holding out her hand. The ninja growled angrily, settling into a defensive stance. "Fuck you, little bitch..." He snapped in defiance. "You'll never take our scroll!" "We kind of need it." She said innocently. "And I don't give a shit...!" Yuri sighed. "Then I'll have to beat you." She pulled out a scroll and summoned a giant fuma shuriken from it. "Forgive me..I'll have to crush your ambitions right here." In turn, the ninja took the change to throw its body at Yuri, fists raised in order to fight her once more. "Sumanai.." She murmured as she thrust the sharp edge of the star shaped weapon at the ninja as he closed in. SLASH! It couldn't dodge in time, and the weapon tore through his shoulder and heart, silencing him forever. He fell to the ground. Yuri reached into his pocket and took out the Earth Scroll. She used Earth Release to clear out a hole in the ground, placed the bodies in them, and said a quick prayer before leaving to head back to the shelter. However, even as she left, a set of eyes had remained fixed on her, having watched the entire thing from a high spot in the trees. The figure of a girl kept herself crouched and out of sight, her chakra masked. She slowly reached up to turn on her earpiece radio. "Mirai? How was it?" Came Seken's voice. "It turns out that at least one of 'em survived..." She commented, sounding impressed. "And the one that got nearly stabbed in the heart, in fact! Though, I don't see why you bother checking up on an ene--" "They're associates of mine. I take care of such." Seken replied confidently. "All right, if you're sure..." "Good. Come back quickly." ---- Yuri arrived back at the shelter while the two girls were still eating, triumphantly clutching her earth scroll. "Back already?" Kaiya commented, pushing herself up to a standing position and looking at her teammate. "Glad to see you in one--" Then her eyes fell on the scroll, widening in surprise. "You got an Earth scroll?! What'd you run into?!" "A Ninja Team that attacked me even though I didn't have a scroll." Yuri replied. "I had to kill them. I feel bad about it..." Immediately, Kaiya walked over to give her companion a hug for comfort. "Don't worry about it. You had to defend yourself, after all. But, at least we have both scrolls now." Akane grinned. "Way to go Yue-chan! I didn't know you had it in you!" "I'll take that as a compliment." Yuri replied, smiling at the hug Kaiya gave her. "So do we head to the tower now?" Akane asked. "Yup! We are good to go!" Kaiya confirmed, releasing Yuri and smiling confidently. "Alright." Yuri collapsed her pot again and place it back inside her hip pouch. "Just give a second, I want to change clothes." After five awkward minutes, Yuri emerged wearing a new shirt, skirt and had added a cloak-like cape to her outfit. "Yuri!" Kaiya put a hand to her mouth to keep from laughing. "You look so cute in that outfit!" Yuri blushed crimson again. "Thanks Kai." She murmured. "Yue-chan, where do you carry all this stuff anyway?" Akane asked. "With me." Was her simple response. In oen swift movement she shattered the shelter they had been using and flattened the ground so it looked as if no one had ever been there. "There.." She said, yawning. "Now lets move." "Right-o. Lead the way." Akane, Yuri, and Kaiya took off, heading towards the middle of the forest where the tower would be. As they took off, the platinum haired boy stepped out from behind a tree, watching them go. Third Event It wasn't long before they finally reached the tower. Although the doors were wide open, it looked as if it was completely abandoned. There were no lights, and small, various amounts moss covered the walls. It certainly looked a bit intimidating, almost as if something was bound to jump at them. Yuri was about to reach for the door, but Akane stopped her. "Wait, Yue-chan. I feel something around here...feels familiar..." "Eh?" Kaiya widened her eyes slightly, looking around. "Is it Seken's team? Did they get here before us?" "It feels like Seken.." Akane replied. "But I don't feel his presence inside the tower at all... Eh, maybe I'm losing my mind." "Maybe because I'm not inside yet." Speak of the Devil. It was the voice of Seken, a distance behind them, that had spoken with a rather calm tone. His figure was seen right beside two others, each with their own stances of idleness. "I see you're still alive..." He complimented, grinning. "Good for you." The female, known as "Mirai", scoffed. "Well, of course they're gonna make it. One of 'em's practically an armory, with those weapons!" At this, Kaiya blushed at the statement directed towards her. Akane grinned. "Heya Seken! Nice to see you made it too!" The black-haired teammate rolled his eyes. "Oh, sure. Greet the black guy, but not his teammates." He said dryly, though a small grin was across his face. That caused Seken to cock an eyebrow in his direction, but he said nothing in return. "I don't know you two." Akane replied apologetically. "I know one of them." Yuri said, pointing at the long haired boy. "He threw a spitball at me." "Name's Hokori." The man greeted, nodding. He motioned towards the girl. "And this is our violent tomboy Mirai." That caused the girl's eye to twitch. "I am not violent." She huffed, tossing a glare his way. "Her lips say no, but her eyes speak volumes." Yuri murmured. "Oh, really? That's not what--" At that moment, Hokori, with a devilish grin, used an arm to shove Seken by surprise and push him into a stunned Mirai. "--''he'' said!" He finished, stepping back a bit and smiling innocently. And Seken had been so unfortunate enough to press his hand right on one of the girl's breasts. He looked up obliviously. "Oh, I seem to have grabbed your--" "GET OUTTA HERE!" WHAM! An uppercut from Mirai slammed into his jaw and knocked him unforgivingly on his back, nearly knocking him out. "Hmph!" The girl muttered, dusting off her hands. The trio's eyes widened. "Yea..." Akane murmured. "I think we'll just go.." Laughing, Hokori reached up to help a dazed Seken to his feet. "You all right, man?" "I'll live..." Seken smirked, before looking over at the three girls. "And what? Leaving so soon? We're going in there, too, after all." "I think we have to take different doors." Akane replied, showing him the other door next to the one Akane was in front of. "Besides, she scares me." Akane gestured to Mirai. "Ah. Thanks for helping us notice." With that, Seken's team moved towards the said door, with Seken being so courteous as to push open the doors. They stepped in, scrolls in hand, and shut it behind them. Yuri opened their own doors. The walked into a circular room that was empty save for a poster with words written on it. Yuri looked at it. "Seems there are words missing. Think the scrolls are the key?" "I'm not sure..." Kaiya muttered reluctantly. "But, we gotta get somewhere, right?" Akane handed Yuri the Earth Scroll while she pulled out the Heaven Scroll. "Here goes nothing." They both peeled open the scroll and smoke issued from it. The girl who hadn't held the scroll held her breath as she observed the scene. It was obviously a tense moment - they had been told not to open the scrolls until they reached the tower. It was now up to fate to decide what was inside of the scroll... Yuri and Akane dropped the scrolls as if clutching a hot iron. The scrolls exploded like a smoke bomb and a dark figure could be seen in the smoke. It was enough to make Kaiya's pupils shrink out of shock, her hands twitching as she stared in astonishment. "S...se..." She stuttered, unable to find the confidence in order to finish. Karin was standing there again before her students, wearing a large smile on her face. "So you three actually made it out here." "Sensei?!" Kaiya exclaimed. "What were you doing inside of the scroll?!" "Taking a bath." Karin said sarcastically. "Waiting for you three of course!" The stunned female looked down on the scroll. "Of course... if we were to open the scrolls, and our Jonin spawned, then he/she would've instantly deemed us to fail. ALL this time, I expected something much more horrible to happen..." "Sensei, could you explain something to us?" Yuri asked. "What is it?" "That message up there on the wall...it seems to be missing a few words." The pink haired girl pointed out. "Good of you to notice that." Karin said, placing her hand on her students shoulder. "That message there is the motto for a Chunin, written by one of the former Hokages." "What does it say?" Kaiya questioned, turning her gaze to the writing as well. Karin tilted her neck from side to side before explaining. "The term "heaven" in this paragraph refers to the human mind and "earth" to the human body." She pointed at Akane. "If you lack "heaven", seek wisdom, be prepared. That's basically...for example, Akane's weakness is her brain. Gain knowledge and prepare yourself for missions." "Ah..." That brought a teasing grin up to Kaiya's face, and she looked over at her teammate. "So it's making fun of you, Akane-chan..." Karin turned to Kaiya. "If you lack "earth", run in the fields, seek advantages. So is Kaiya's weakness is stamina, she must continue to train harder." That gave Akane her own chance to grin. "Oh, my." Kaiya commented, looking at herself in surprise. "Surely I'm not that faint-prone...?" Then Karin turned to Yumi. "If you possess both "Heaven" and "Earth" you can succeed in even the most dangerous of missions. SO basically all missions become safe and easy."